Kids News - Insects Articles

Dropped a chip or cookie on the pavement? Don't bother picking it up especially if you live in an urban area like Manhattan. That's because according to a team of researchers led by North Carolina State University's Clint Penick, some industrious ants will soon carry it away. For believe it or not, many city ants have come to love junk food almost as much as humans do!

For humans seeing butterflies fluttering around with their beautiful brightly colored wings is a joyful sight. However not for their natural predators like lizards, spiders, and birds. To them, the vibrant hues are a reminder of a bad-tasting species that are best avoided. For those not easily duped, some butterflies also have eyespots on their wings. According to researchers, this tricks would-be predators into thinking that the insect is a larger animal, like an owl.

While most scientists are focused on creating vaccines for life threatening mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria, British biotech firm Oxitec is taking a unique approach. They want to nip the problem in the bud or should we say larva, by killing the dengue-carrying mosquitos with the help of genetically modified laboratory versions.

Ever since JK Rowling planted the 'invisibility cloak' seed, scientists all over the world have been rushing to be the first ones to make it a reality. Now there seems to be a winner - A tiny square sticker called Kite Patch. The only catch? It makes humans invisible only to mosquitoes!

While ants may appear to be just pesky insects whose sole purpose in life it to annoy humans, they are in reality, quite amazing - They can survive the biggest floods by morphing into living rafts, find their way anywhere, thanks to a built-in GPS and now it turns out, may even have the ability to predict earthquakes - Something the world's best brains have been unable to do, so far!

After being slammed by severe winter storms, some areas of the East Coast of the United States are now getting ready for another onslaught - This time, from the millions of cicadas that are about to emerge from the ground for the final three months of their lives.

As if battling against a government they don't approve of is not enough, the people of Egypt now have another foe to deal with - One that they are almost helpless against - A thirty million strong army of Desert locusts that showed up on March 2nd, 2013 in the Southern region of the country's capital, Cairo.

Mention the word 'cockroach' in a room full of people and you will see it empty it out in no time at all. However, if some scientists are right, this very same pest that we have all come to despise and fear, may soon prove to be our savior in the aftermath of natural disasters.